Amy Schumer

Amy Schumer

India Asks YouTube To Remove Delhi Rape Documentary

India has asked YouTube to remove all links to a controversial documentary about the gang rape and murder of a woman in Delhi after banning its broadcast, a government official told Reuters on Thursday.
Leslee Udwin's "India's Daughter" features an interview with Mukesh Singh, one of four men sentenced to death for the rape and torture of a 23-year-old woman on a moving bus in December 2012.
Comments released to the media show that Singh blames the victim for the crime. He says that women are more responsible than men for rape.
"We just forwarded the court order and asked them (YouTube) to comply," an official at the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology told Reuters.

More at Huff. Post

They Put Her In Solitary Confinement For 7 Months. Before That, She Was In A Prison Full Of Men

Because, while Johanna is a woman, she is also transgender. And because of her gender identity, Johanna's life is in constant danger. The bias and hatred against transgender women is very real, as Johanna's story sadly shows. Often, the people who commit violence against transgender women assume that they must be gay men because they might wear make-up or might wear their hair long.

Not only is she a transgender woman, she is a transgender woman who crossed the U.S. border undocumented. This makes things more complicated. Because, unfortunately, she didn't find help. Instead, she found herself in the immigration detention system. Johanna was placed in a jail — with men.

...being locked up was a nightmare. She was beat up by a male cellmate. Then, guards told her the only safe way to house her was solitary confinement. There, she sat in a 6-by-13-foot cell for 23 hours a day with no human contact and no view of the outside world. She waited for an asylum decision for seven months. Johanna decided that going back home was far better than being locked up in solitary confinement. She was deported to El Salvador. Almost as soon as her plane landed in the San Salvador airport, more nightmares followed.

upworthy.com

Why do Arab men hate women?

Why do they hate us? With these five words in a controversial magazine article, Egyptian-American journalist Mona Eltahawy shot to fame, unleashing a devastating critique of womens rights in the Arab world.In the season premiere of Head to Head , Mehdi Hasan challenges Eltahawy on her views regarding the status of women in Arab states.Are Arab or Muslim societies inherently patriarchal? And how does the narrative of Islam as sexist play into geo-politics and Western stereotypes of the Middle East?

See the "About" on YouTube

Banaz A Love Story

Banaz Mahmod was murdered by her own family, in an honour killing. This film tells Banaz’s story, in her own words, for the first time – and tells the story of the extraordinary police team who refused to give up, and finally brought her killers to justice.

This is a documentary film chronicling an act of overwhelming horror – the honour killing of Banaz Mahmod, a young British woman in suburban London in 2006, killed and “disappeared” by her own family, with the agreement and help of a large section of the Kurdish community, because she tried to choose a life for herself.

Fuuse

Homoerotic Homophobes

What Would You Do?

In this segment, this examines how people will react when they see a jerk harass a waitress played by Carmen Carrera who used to be a man and denounces the waitress after finding out they are transgender. How will the people react when they see someone be insulted?

WWYD?

China's anti-prostitution policies 'lead to increase in abuse of sex workers'

China's high-profile crackdowns on prostitution have made sex workers more vulnerable to abuse by police and clients while failing to curb the trade, a new report says.

Women described being assaulted by police and other security officials until they admitted to being sex workers, leading to them being fined or detained for up to two years without trial. One told Human Rights Watch: "I was beaten until I turned black and blue, because I wouldn't admit to prostitution." Another told the group: "They attached us to trees, threw freezing cold water on us, and then proceeded to beat us."

The Guardian

'Honor' killing

Jordanian police in the small town of Ruseifeh outside of the capital of Amman have discovered the partially burned dead bodies of a woman and her unborn child, the apparent victims of a so-called honor killing, as reported by the Saudi Gazette on April 14, 1013.

The unidentified woman was reported to have "her throat was slit in a hideous way" according to a Jordanian police spokesman. The woman's belly was also sliced open, revealing her 4 month old unborn child who was also burned. The local law enforcement officials believe the double murder is due to Islamic Sharia'a Law, in which women merely accused of dishonoring her family may be put to death, usually by the woman's father, brothers and/or husband.

As cited by the newspaper The Irish Independent via The Bulletin of Oppressed Women: "The blunt truth is that honour killings are mainly Muslim-on-Muslim."

According to the Irish news organ, Muslims perpetrate 91 percent of all "honor killings" world-wide. The news portal Gendercide Watch cites though technically illegal under the broad legal umbrella defining murder, "honor killings" are still legal under Jordan's heavily Sharia'a-influenced criminal and civil laws:
"'Honour' killings are sanctioned by law.
According to Article 340 of the criminal code, 'A husband or a close blood relative who kills a woman caught in a situation highly suspicious of adultery will be totally exempt from sentence.'
Article 98, meanwhile, guarantees a lighter sentence for male killers of female relatives who have committed an 'act which is illicit in the eyes of the perpetrator.'"

Examiner.com

Vatican, Russia and Iran resist U.N. efforts to fight abuse of women

The Vatican, Iran and other religious states are resisting efforts by a U.N. conference, which started Monday, to demand tougher global standards to prevent violence against women and children.

More than 6,000 non-governmental groups are registered at the annual U.N. Commission on the Status of Women, one of the biggest events held at the U.N. headquarters and one that regularly turns into a diplomatic battle. This year’s meeting has been made more emotive after an attack in October by the Taliban on 15-year-old Malala Yousafzai for her attempts to promote girls’ education in Pakistan and widely publicized gang rapes in India and South Africa.

Diplomats said the Holy See, Iran and Russia are leading attempts to wipe out language in a final statement that says religion, custom or tradition must not be used as an excuse to avoid a government’s obligation to eliminate violence. They have also opposed references to rape by a woman’s husband or partner, diplomats said. “Violence against women must be seen as a human rights issue and that has nothing to do with culture or religion,” Norway’s Gender Equality Minister Inga Marte Thorkildsen told AFP.

“The Vatican, conservative religious forces within the United States and Europe, Catholic and Muslim countries are joining forces to stop women from gaining sexual rights,” the minister said, predicting tough negotiations during the two-week conference.

The Daily Star (AFP)

Iceland seeks internet pornography ban

In the age of the internet and globe-spanning viral videos, can a thoroughly wired country become a porn-free zone? Authorities in Iceland want to find out.

The government is drafting plans to ban pornography, in print and online, in an attempt to protect children from a tide of violent sexual imagery. The proposal by the interior minister, Ogmundur Jonasson, has caused uproar. Opponents say the move will censor the web, encourage authoritarian regimes and undermine Iceland's reputation as a Scandinavian bastion of free speech.

The Guardian

Pope Contender Says No Priest Sex Abuse In Africa Because Of Anti-Gay Laws

The Cardinal heralded as the man who could be the first black Pope has said sex abuse could not happen in Africa, on the same scale as Europe, because of tough anti-homosexuality laws.

Survivors of abuse by priests say they "fear for the safety of kids in Turkson's diocese if he denies there are predatory priests there".

Cardinal Turkson is currently the second favourite to be the next pontiff, and had been championed by progressives who have urged the Vatican to elect the first African pope.

Huffington Post - Amanpour.blog

Christian group says demon sex makes you gay

The reigning scientific consensus on sexual orientation is that it’s an inherited, biological trait, but that’s just because scientists don’t know how to party. A far sexier explanation has been offered up by Christian magazine Charisma, which conducted its own investigation into the origins of homosexuality to reveal the real culprit: sex with demons.

“Can demons engage in sexual behaviors with humans?” the magazine asks. Why yes, they can! At least according to the article’s primary source, a former stripper-turned-ministry leader named Contessa Adams. Adams shares her decades-long struggle with demon sex, sparing no horrible, sexy detail:

These spiritual rapists, as Adams describes them in her book, Consequences, often prey on people by performing sexual acts through nightmares and erotic dreams. Some people become so dependent upon these demonic experiences that they actually look forward to them.
“Anybody that has been attacked by them will tell you … they’re worried [that] they could not find that pleasure with mortal people,” says Adams, who claims she was once possessed by sexual demons.
The two most identifiable sexual demons are the incubus, which is a male sexual demon that traditionally assaults women, and the succubus, which is a female sexual demon that assaults men. Sometimes they also lure people into homosexual behavior.

Adams says the succubus spirit that used to attack her confused her so much that she contemplated becoming a lesbian.

Salon.com

Tunisia rape victim accused of 'indecency'

Tunisian civil society is rallying in support of a young woman who was raped by police officers in what they say is part of a broader assault on women's rights by religious conservatives. There is widespread outrage after 27-year-old victim was summoned by the investigating judge on Wednesday to face chargers of "indecency" from the two men accused of raping her, in what many argue is an attempt by the authorities to intimidate her.

Leading human rights, feminist groups and other prominent members of civil society have formed a committee evening to co-ordinate a campaign in support of the woman, including the Tunisian Association of Democratic Women and the Tunisian League of Human Rights.
Faïza Skandrani, the head of the Equality and Parity organisation, told Al Jazeera that the case was an important one for two reasons: it marked the first time a woman allegedly raped by the police had taken the case to court, and it was the first time the authorities were trying to publicly shame a woman into dropping such charges.

"The investigating judge is turning her from the victim to the accused, to help the police officers get away with it," she said. "I've heard about similar cases in Pakistan, but this is a first in Tunisia. Next they will be charging her with prostitution."

Al Jazeera English - Women in Tunisia on Wikipedia

US Doctors Using Dangerous Steroids On Fetuses In Experiment To Reduce Lesbianism, Tomboyism, Intersexuality

U.S. doctors have injected at least a thousand pregnant women with hazardous, non-FDA-approved synthetic steroids (without warning them of the risks) in a bizarre experimental effort to reduce future “tomboyism, lesbianism and bisexuality” in fetuses that may be genetically prone to those traits. The Northwestern University News Center unravels the disturbing medical news:

A new paper just published in the Journal of Bioethical Inquiry uses extensive Freedom of Information Act findings to detail an extremely troubling off-label medical intervention employed in the U.S. on pregnant women to intentionally engineer the development of their fetuses for sex normalization purposes.

Disinformation

Students at Stuyvesant Take Issue With Sexist Dress Code

Stuyvesant is one of the best public high schools in New York City; it’s very competitive to get in, and its graduates go on to excellent colleges. And apparently the kids at Stuy were dressing “inappropriately,” and a new code had to be issued and enforced. Here’s the code:

• Sayings and illustrations on clothing should be in good taste.
• Shoulders, undergarments, midriffs and lower backs should not be exposed.
• The length of shorts, dresses and skirts should extend below the fingertips with the arms straight at your side.

How many of these apply to male students at Stuyvesant, do you think? And also, you can’t show your shoulders?

Students at Stuy are pointing out that while the dress code is ridiculous, the enforcement is even moreso — because it’s inconsistent, and seems to be based more on a particular student’s body type than on what they’re actually wearing. Oh and the enforcement also comes with a healthy dose of “You’re gonna get raped wearing that” and “You’ll never find a husband in that”:

More on AlterNet – Also see: Stuyvesant To Female Students: Stop Dressing Like Sluts at Gothamist

NC Pastor Says Gay People Should Be "Detained in Camps" Until They Die

Although the majority of Americans now believe that gay and lesbian citizens should have the legal right to marry, homophobia obviously runs deep among many in this country. One of those raging homophobes is Pastor Charles Worley of the Providence Road Baptist Church in Maiden, North Carolina, who recently told his congregation that "the queers and the homosexuals" should be "detained in camps" and left to die.

The full quote from his sermon:

I figured a way out to get rid of all the lesbians and queers. But it isn’t going to pass in Congress. Build a great, big, large fence -- 150 or 100 mile long -- put all the lesbians in there…Do the same thing for the queers and the homosexuals and have that fence electrified so they can’t get out…and you know what, in a few years, they’ll die out…do you know why? They can’t reproduce!

More on AlterNet

The Menace of Underage Hand-Holding

Like any state legislature dealing with 8 percent unemployment and thousands of its residents facing disenfranchisement, the Tennessee Senate (Nashville, Tennessee, USA) is targeting the menace of underage hand-holding. Last week, the Senate passed SB 3310, a bill to update the state’s abstinence-based sex education curriculum to define holding hands and kissing as “gateway sexual activities.” Just one senator voted against the legislation; 28 voted in favor.

Since the bill specifically bans teachers from “demonstrating gateway sexual activity”, educators would be prohibited from even demonstrating what hand-holding is. Breaking these laws could result in a lawsuit, as Hunter from Daily Kos notes: If your teacher teaches you anything about sex that isn’t specifically on the approved curriculum, like demonstrating “holding hands” for the class instead of quietly tsking about the dangers it poses, they can be sued.

Still, this anti-hand-holding push may only be the second-worst bill passed in Tennessee this month. Nearly a century after the Volunteer State played host to the Scopes Monkey Trial, the legislature has now enacted a new law allowing educators to teach creationism alongside evolution.

ThinkProgress

Forced castrations in Dutch Roman Catholic care

Underage sexual abuse victims were castrated in Dutch Roman Catholic psychiatric wards in the 1950s, according to the Rotterdam-based newspaper NRC Handelsblad. Castration was performed on young men who were thought to be homosexual, but also as a means of punishing those who blew the whistle on abusers, the paper quotes sources as saying.

NRC discovered proof of the forced castration of one young man and strong evidence that at least ten other abuse victims were subjected to the removal of their testicles. The proof includes court documents, medical records, letters from lawyers and private correspondence.

According to the paper, the practice was reported in 2010 to the Deetman Commission which completed its investigation of sexual abuse in the Roman Catholic church last December. The commission, led by former cabinet minister Wim Deetman of the Christian Democrat party (CDA), made no mention of the castration of abuse victims in its final report. NRC also writes that a prominent Dutch politician tried to secure a royal pardon for Catholic brothers convicted of sexual abuse at Harreveld, a former boarding school in the Netherlands. The politician was Vic Marijnen, who later became Dutch prime minister.

Radio Netherlands Worldwide

5 years in prison for being gay

Jonas is 19 years old. Francky is 20. And a judge in Cameroon just sentenced them both to 5 years in prison for being gay.

Cameroon has several laws that criminalize homosexuality -- at least 10 people have been arrested this year alone. Last July, Jonas and Francky were arrested outside a club on suspicion of violating these discriminatory anti-gay laws.

“Violence against gay people in Cameroon has skyrocketed to unprecedented levels: the situation is quickly becoming a crisis," says human rights attorney Alice Nkom. “The president of Cameroon can put a stop to this and, if he feels enough pressure, he will do so."

Stephane Koche is a Cameroonian LGBT rights activist working with the organization ADEFHO (Association of Defence of Homosexuals) to free Jonas and Francky. Stephane started a petition on Change.org demanding that Cameroonian president Paul Biya free Jonas and Francky immediately. Please sign Stephane's petition today.

ilga.org - also see: writingrights.org